Gameplay Issues in the Design of 3D Gestures for Video Games

John Payne, Paul Keir, Jocelyn Elgoyhen, Mairghread McLundle, MartinNaef, Martyn Horner, Paul Anderson

Digital Design Studio

Galsgow School of Art

Glasgow, UK G41 5BW

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Summary:

Introduction:

This article identifies points to be considered in the development of 3D gestures as a means of interacting with video games. Four game scenarios using different gesture characteristics were used to identify gameplay issues that have an impact on the design of 3D gestures. The use of gestures offers a natural and intuitive alternative to cumbersome controller mechanisms. However, in spite of the benefits the implementation of a gesture based system is not without difficulty.

To address this 3motion which is a development kit allows 3D gestures to be easily defined and implemented was developed. This is the platform on which user experiences with intuitive gestures in gaming applications will be measured.

The implementation of 3D gestures brings to light several problems:

How to present 3D gesture feedback.

User performance differences.

What are familiar semiotics for 3D gestures.

How to control menu screens in 3D.

The lack of anything to hold.

Testing Rationale:

In the initial phases of the development of 3motion it was subjected to a wide range of users from different backgrounds enabling informal observations of user behavior to be made. From this, several contrasting gesture types were explored:

Direct mapping to actions.

Symbolic use.

Tight , highly controlled precise movements.

Broad gestures.

Speed/repetition.

Accuracy.

System Description & Hardware:

The system consisted of a video camera, laptop with the demonstration software, and the 3motion hardware.

A pretest interview was conducted where the users were introduced to the controls and given a brief description of the games. They were then allowed to experiment with each game under supervision while their comments and performance recorded. Once they were comfortable, they were left to play several rounds with each of the games. During the trials the users were asked to think aloud describing their experience. At the end a post test session was conducted to identify the positive and negative elements of the experience.

User feedback:

Attention was given to the users ability to calibrate their movements to obtain the best results.

There was a preference for simple gestures, with some users commenting that they were unsure what movements exactly constituted particular gestures. The users ability to learn and differentiate gestures was less than expected. In the wizard game the use of horizontal and vertical mirroring was also frequently confused.

Users with a lot of gaming experience found the use of gestures lacking in precision. In contrast, users without much gaming experience were impressed with the intuitive nature of the 3motion setup.

Conclusions:

Although the tests were somewhat preliminary, the intuitive nature of gestures was preferred to button based interfaces. The role of initial instruction was significant in the users overall enjoyment. In particular, user feedback in gesture games is closely linked to the type of gameplay being designed. Future work will focus on this last point.

Discussion:

There is a general lack of descriptive detail in this article. In particular the user study does not present any quantitative data. It is however interesting that individuals who have not had a lot of gaming experience seemed more openminded to the new gesture based approach. Whereas confirmed gamers seemed more set in their ways comparing gestures with familiar interfaces.